Sheffield United have already addressed the consequence of missing out on promotion amid play-off blow
Sheffield United need a miracle to keep their promotion dream alive with just seven games of the Championship campaign remaining.
Following last Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Wrexham at Bramall Lane, United now find themselves 11 places and 13 points behind sixth-placed Southampton, who overtook Wrexham to move into the final play-off berth, albeit on goal difference, last week.
Although United have been playing catch-up all season long amid their disastrous start to the season under former manager Rubén Sellés, play-off talk had strengthened over the last few months as the Blades put a run of results together that suggested they could gatecrash the top six.
However, a run of just one win in their last six matches has all but ended their play-off hopes, meaning their final seven games look set to be about nothing more than finishing the campaign as strongly as possible.
After narrowly missing out on automatic promotion and then being beaten 2-1 by Sunderland right at the death in the play-off final last season, every United supporter walked away from Wembley optimistic the club would go again this term and put together a solid bid to try and return to the Premier League at the second time of asking.
However, a catalogue of costly mistakes were made last summer, meaning United now appear set for a third successive term in the Championship. A full summer under Chris Wilder should benefit United in the long run, but the impact of another season in the second tier from a financial viewpoint is going to force United to almost certainly make some decisions they would prefer not to.
The reason for that is because United, next season, are set to be without parachute payments for the first time since 2018/19. The Blades have bounced between the Premier League and the Championship in recent years with the blow of relegations being softened by the protection of parachute payments.
Unfortunately, the cost of missing out on promotion this time around is almost certainly going to force them to cut their wage bill.
Speaking to the Yorkshire Post in February, United chief executive Stephen Bettis said: "If we don't get promoted, it'll be the first time in eight years that we are really a Championship club. We've either been in the Premier League or a Championship club with parachute payments.
"On top of that the Premier League have already embraced a new kind of FFP (financial fair play) called SCR, squad cost ratio. The EFL is going the same way.
"This is not about how big a cheque the owners can write because clubs are restricted in terms of the investment they can make."
The United chief executive continued: "We won't be selling players to bring in cash (but) we may have to sell players to reduce the wage bill to meet the requirements.”
United were due to get 55 per cent of their 2023-24 broadcast revenue – around £107.9m – last season, and 45 per cent this term. They "forward-funded" some of this season's parachute payments in 2024-25 in an attempt to bounce straight back to the Premier League, but were, of course, beaten by Sunderland at Wembley.
Refusing to confirm how much revenue will drop by, Bettis added: “It's a sizeable sum and there will need to be adjustments. We need to make sure we're getting the best out of every penny we spend and embrace our academy players. We've got a proven track record of that.
"In the last seven or eight years, we've never had to worry about breaching those rules. We've never been the highest payers in the Championship and we're always one of the lowest in the Premier League but still, there will need to be an adjustment for us."
With parachute payments no longer set to be a luxury next season, the Blades could have some difficult decisions to make in the coming months.